(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software and systems for use in financial and associated transactional solutions and delivery of services. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems that present for review completed or partially completed electronic documents or other work product, such as tax and accounting forms, e.g. tax returns, for accuracy and approval.
(b) Background of the Invention
As companies continue to strive for efficiency, consistency and flexibility, computers and software executed on computers are increasingly relied upon to automate, semi-automate, enhance, quicken and improve business processes. This is true even in fields of professional service providers, such as accountants and other financial professionals and attorneys, and fields in which standardized procedures and documents are critical to and may even govern acceptable and “best” practices.
To help accounting professionals, such as accounting firms, provide and manage accounting related professional services to clients, such as corporations and even individuals or partnerships, companies, such as Thomson Reuters Corporation (“Thomson”), have developed, marketed and sold software products and services, such as the Thomson CS Professional Suite of software products. With some of these products, the accounting firm uses the professional software on its computer system (the “accountants system”) and provides one or more of its clients with a client-side solution that operates on its clients' computer system (the “client system”) that may be set-up to fit clients' particular needs and situations.
There currently exist solutions available and marketed to professionals and to their clients that provide bookkeeping, accounting and other financial services. For instance, Thomson's CS Professional Suite of accounting products provides tools and solutions for accountants, accounting firms (accountant systems) and their clients (client systems). For instance, Thomson's Client Bookkeeping Solution™ (“CBS”) is a client accounting software solution used in maintaining a company's financial or accounting records or “books.” CBS is a fully functional check-writing and bookkeeping software for use by both accountants and their clients. CBS may be customized by accounting firms to streamline clients' day-to-day bookkeeping tasks and to provide functional capabilities best suited for clients' needs. Using CBS, accountants may import client data from client bookkeeping solutions, such as QuickBooks Pro®/Premier/Enterprise, Peachtree®, Microsoft Office Accounting®, Paychex, and BusinessWorks® formats, directly into accounting write-up software, for example Thomson's Write-Up™ CS product. Write-Up CS enables accountants to provide customized accounting services that efficiently meet their clients' needs, including providing analytical services, standard and custom reports, and financial statements. Write-Up CS transforms high-level financial data using its Report and Financial Statement Editor to generate reports and financial statements. Client transaction data may be transferred directly into the accountants' Write-Up CS™ software solution to produce reports and financial statements without having to reenter data. Other products, such as Thomson's Trial Balance CS™, Payroll CS™, UltraTax CS™, and Engagement CS™ applications, may be used to perform further functionality, for example, data sorting and presentation, payroll related processing, customizable financial statements, engagement workflow and document management, and tax return preparation and filing.
With CBS, an accounting firm may provide clients with CBS software, such as by CD or over the Internet using ASP technology (CBS ASP) via NetClient CS™ portals. CBS clients may be set up using information from the accountant's Write-Up CS™ software. The accountant's client may use CBS to, among other things, record and print checks, record transactions, and generate reports. Periodically, clients transmit to the accounting firm transaction details, such as via email, web portal, or on disk, whereupon data is complete and organized for transfer to the accountant's Write-Up CS software solution, for example.
An alternative means of importing client information into the Write-Up CS, for example, is Thomson's Accountant's Gateway™. Accountant's Gateway provides a bi-directional exchange of data between accounting databases to external client bookkeeping systems (also referred to as client accounting systems) involving data of different, external formats. Accountant's Gateway allows service providers to seamlessly and automatically receive and translate client data from clients and to translate and transmit data back to client systems. Further, Accountant's Gateway facilitates clients' retaining of records of their financial details in electronic forms for many purposes, including accounting and evaluation purposes and provides a data exchange capable of both importing and exporting financial data across multiple and varied formats.
As professional service providers continue to interact with clients electronically and to deliver work product electronically, there is an increasing need for the service provider to secure payment before delivering in final usable or fileable electronic document to its clients. One problem with electronic exchange of documents for review and acceptance by clients is that once the work is done, the data collected, the forms processed, and the tax calculated, for example with a tax return, then the service provider loses some control over receipt of payment for their work product or service provided.
In the field of accounting software architectures, the available prior art fails to provide a method of integrated document review and payment of a corresponding invoice for the work performed for the tax and accounting documents during the current billing cycle. A need exists to provide a seamless way of reviewing documents and filing them, accounting for the receipt of payment in an automated or semi-automated manner, facilitating clients' efficient and organized filing of tax documents in electronic form, and payment for accountant service provider's services. Existing systems may provide for online bill payments, but fail to provide an integrated document review and online bill pay whereby the documents are filed in an automated or semi-automated manner upon review of the tax and accounting documents and payment of the services during the billing cycle.